Multi-time New Zealand motorcycle Enduro Champion and International Six Days Gold Medal winner Sean Clarke last season came up with an exciting concept to help develop the next group of world class New Zealand off-road racing talent.

And the concept is starting to grow as this weekend sees the second annual running of the Suzuki Junior Three-Hour race.

Set in the Ohakuri Forest, just south of Tokoroa, the race this Saturday, November 29, appeals to both ends of the talent spectrum and has attracted some of the sport’s elite rising stars, as well as many who seek to learn and develop their skills for the future.

The race had been scheduled to run at the beginning of October, but a storm ravaged the Central Plateau and forced Clarke to postpone it until this weekend.

Clarke, with the support of the Dirt Guide and Kiwi Rider magazine, has been staging 90-minute cross-country races for junior and mini-bike riders for the past three years and this latest project of his is already proving popular with the dirt bike community.

Clarke got his start in off-road motorcycle sport early. So early, in fact, that he still carries the nick-name ‘Junior’ – even though he is now a veteran. After an illustrious career, he’s doing something for the new juniors, hoping to attract more kids into cross-country racing.

The winners in his Dirt Guide/Kiwi Rider-backed series have all come from motocross backgrounds, and all are previous King of the North Mini Motocross winners: James Scott (Oparau) and Dan White (Korakonui) to mention just two.

Scott won last weekend’s annual two-hour Tarawera 50 cross-country race at Matata, near Whakatane, with White finishing runner-up and these two individuals have already indicated that they will team up to tackle this weekend’s Suzuki Three-Hour.

Riders such as Rotorua’s Logan Steens, Galatea’s Logan Salmons, Palmerston North’s Hunter Miller, Pahiatua’s Jarod Hylsop, Te Awamutu’s Rachael Archer and just-crowned national junior women’s motocross champion Tyla Cushion, from Hamilton, could also feature.

“The kids really like the fact they are out in the forest and learning the track as the event progresses,” Clarke says.

“A lot of the time they are riding on their own, which helps hugely in building their confidence. However, they are still kids so we will have several travelling marshals out on both courses to ensure all the riders have a good time.”

Yes, there will be two courses in the Suzuki Junior Three-Hour. One will be a 10 kilometre course for Juniors aged 11 to 15-years-old; the other will be a Mini course over four kilometres for 7 to 11-year-olds. The courses are designed to suit the small wheels of the bikes the kids will be racing and both classes will be racing at the same time.

The Suzuki Junior Three-Hour is a teams’ contest so none of the riders will be racing the full three hours. They will either share a bike, with one rider handing over to the other at the re-fuelling stops, or run pony-express style, with the second rider on a fresh bike waiting for his team-mate to finish a lap before heading out.

In the Minis, the 7 to 11-year-old riders have choice between 0-105cc two-stroke motocross bikes, or four-stroke trail bikes up to 150cc.

Sign-in is at 7am with scrutineering starting at 7am as well (bike, boot and helmet check). Race starts at 9am.

For more information email: foresttrailevents@xtra.co.nz or call Sean Clarke 027 599 6046 or 07 886 5918.

The race is sponsored by The Dirt Guide, Bel-Ray, Michelin tyres, Renthal bars, DRC, O’Neal apparel, Yoshimura exhausts, TCX boots, Kiwi Rider magazine and Oakley goggles.

© Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

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